The invention is directed to a method for disaggregating closed glass members containing pollutants, such as picture tubes or gas discharge tubes, into recyclable constituents, whereby the glass members are separated according to glass types, such as front and cone glass of picture tubes and glass of gas discharge tubes, and into other component parts, particularly metallic and ceramic component parts, and the materials representing pollutants for the purpose of recycling are disposed of.
Recycling has become an important topic at the current time. Both the limited nature of raw materials as well as the environmental pollution make it necessary to think about the recyclability of the waste produced by industry.
One is confronted nearly daily with the recycling of paper and glass. In many locations, it is a matter of course to have different garbage cans for paper, glass and other household waste. The success of this separate waste management is reflected, for example, therein that every second hollow glass vessel is already currently made of recycled glass.
Recycling systems place high demands on the quality profile of the materials to be reprocessed. A main problem is thereby resolving the waste into various constituents, i.e. to separate the waste into its different, recyclable component parts. This principle of division into various component parts is successfully employed, for example, when separating aluminum cans from household waste or when separating bottle closures from glass bottles. The situation, however, becomes more complicated given electronic wastes such as, for example, television sets, computer monitors, computer terminals and picture screen devices in general. Various types of glass, types of metal, plastics and pollutants must thereby be separated from one another. The various component parts can thereby be manually separated with high personnel costs or the entire electronics waste can simply be comminuted, whereupon the component parts, however, can no longer be employed and thus become a part of the disposed waste.
Management of waste, whether in the form of dumping or recycling, is thereby subject to the laws governing waste. Particularly in the case of polluting waste, the demands made of the disposal systems by the laws governing waste are rather strict. However, no satisfactory disposal systems for closed glass members containing pollutants, namely members mainly composed of glass but also comprising pollutants, metals and ceramic that, according to the catalog of wastes requiring special monitoring, are subsumed under one waste category and comprise picture tubes, gas discharge tubes and the like, have hitherto become known.
If, for example, one wishes to recycle the component parts of a picture tube, then the various component parts thereof that are composed of pollutant-loaded front glass, lead-containing cone glass, a metal band for integration into a housing, a metal mask as well as metal knobs for arresting the masks for color picture tubes must be separated from one another. As a consequence of the complicated nature or, respectively, of the great plurality of different materials, this separation frequently occurs manually. The glued metal band is removed first; the cone and front glass can then be cut with a diamond disk and can be separated from the picture tube under the influence of heat; next, the mask and, subsequently, the locking knobs are manually or automatically removed; the cone glass is then not farther-processed and can be eliminated; and, finally, the pollutants are removed from the insides of the front glass. The component parts separated in this way can then be in turn returned into the economical cycle.
For example, DE 39 01 842 Al discloses a method for the separation of picture tube glass of picture tubes and the cleaning thereof, The metal band--after it has been undone--, the mask as the well as the arresting knobs are thereby magnetically separated and the cone glass is separated from the front glass with a cutting disk such as a diamond disk. Subsequently, the phosphor layer on the front glass and the coating of the cone glass are stripped off, for example with sand or water under high pressure.
In the case of gas discharge tubes that utilize the radiation of discharge plasmas, potentially in cooperation with phosphors, it is standard to employ a disaggregation method that is essentially the same as that for picture tubes. The ends comprising the metal and ceramic constituents of a gas discharge tube are thereby separated from the corresponding glass tube with the assistance of a diamond disk, whereby the gas necessary for the discharge plasma is either pumped off or is released into the atmosphere or, in the case of a mercury vapor lamp, mercury is neutralized by spreading a Hg-binding substance such as Merkurisorb.RTM. on and can then be shaken out of the glass tube into a collecting vessel. When a phosphor layer is applied on the inside of the glass tube, this is stripped off with sand or water under high pressure, so that the various component parts of a gas discharge tube can then in turn be returned into the economic cycle.
A mechanical comminution of picture tubes and/or gas discharge tubes has hitherto always produced a "mash" composed of the various component parts thereof, and this "mask" is not recyclable. Such an undifferentiated production of a mash is unsatisfactory, particularly in view of pollutant disposal.